Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Luke Ridnour in action at the Target Cente on Feb. 6, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

Luke Ridnour is out, Kevin Martin is in.

On a conference call Thursday night, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders officially announced the addition of Martin, a top-level scoring guard, from the Oklahoma City Thunder in a three-team trade that sent combo guard Ridnour and a 2014 second-round pick to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Martin signed a four-year, $28 million deal.

The move addresses Minnesota's outside shooting needs, which were painfully obvious last season when the team shot a league worst 30.5 percent from beyond the arc in coach Rick Adelman's first season as coach.

"As (Adelman) said, he feels in his system we can chalk in 18 points (a game from Martin)," Saunders said. "Last year, they had a tough time chalking in 23 points from both the (shooting guard) and (small forward) spots."

The 6-foot-7 Martin averaged 14 points and shot 42.6 percent from three-point range in 2012-13. But Martin, 30, didn't start a game for the first time since his rookie season under Adelman with the Sacramento Kings in 2004-05.

The 24th pick in the 2004 NBA draft out of Western Carolina, Martin averaged more than 19 points a game for six straight seasons with the Kings and Houston Rockets. Some of his best seasons were playing for Adelman.

"A lot just depends on the system you're in," Saunders said. "He was in a system (at Oklahoma City) that was dominated both by (Russell) Westbrook and (Kevin) Durant.

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You saw how dynamic those two are, and I thought he was very efficient with his production for that team.

"We're going to ask him to do a lot more. He's more familiar with (Adelman's) offense than anybody we have on our roster. He'll be able to teach our guards the offense better than anybody."

Saunders said getting rid of Ridnour was a tough decision because "he was very much wanted."

Ridnour averaged 11.5 points and 3.8 assists while starting all 82 games last season. But the Timberwolves cleared Ridnour's $4.32 million salary from the cap, and had too point guards Ridnour, Ricky Rubio and J.J. Barea on the roster.

"He's been a starter in the league as a point guard for a number of teams for a number of years," he said. "In order to do this, the reason we did a sign-and-trade, is because we're hoping it can lead to some other activity (Friday)."

That's a veiled reference to swingman Corey Brewer, who hasn't officially signed but took to Twitter Thursday to spread the news of his return to Minnesota, which made him the No. 7 overall pick in the 2007 draft.

"And Hello Minnesota! Very excited to be back in front of all those Timberwolves fans at the Target Center! #brewersback lol," Brewer posted via @CoreyBrewer13.

Minnesota's Corey Brewer hollers after sinking the Timberwolves' final field goal in their 108-103 overtime win against the Philadelphia 76ers at Target Center in Minneapolis on Monday, January 18, 2010. (Pioneer Press: Richard Marshall)

Brewer, who played the past two seasons with the Denver Nuggets, has reportedly agreed in principle Wednesday to a three-year, $15 million deal to play for the Wolves. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 12.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals as a reserve for Denver last season.

Minnesota can afford Brewer because of the Ridnour deal. He is expected to fill the defensive void left on the wing by Andrei Kirilenko, who opted out of $10.2 million for next season and signed for the mid-level exception in Brooklyn Thursday.

The Wolves also agreed to terms with veteran power forward Ronny Turiaf on a two-year, $3.2 million contract, the Associated Press reported.

Turiaf, 30, played sparingly last season for the Los Angeles Clippers but started seven playoff games for the champion Miami Heat in 2012 after joining them down the stretch and has 47 postseason games on his resume.

Brewer struggled in his first two NBA seasons, averaging 5.8 points as a rookie in 2007-08 and 6.2 points in 2008-09. But he averaged a career-best 13 points in 82 games in his third season in Minnesota.

The following season, he was traded to the New York Knicks as part of a three-team deal that involved Carmelo Anthony. After being waived by the Knicks before playing a game, Brewer signed with the Dallas Mavericks and was with them when they won the 2011 NBA championship.

Prior to the Saunders conference call Thursday, Yahoo! Sports reported that the Wolves were able to get cash and Martin through a sign-and-trade deal with the Thunder to create a $7 million trade exception.

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